Indian exporters warned that additional US tariffs.
The shares opened marginally lower on Thursday, with the NIFTY reference index 0.31 percent after an initial 25 percent tariff entered into force.
But that will double in three weeks, after Trump signed an order on Wednesday to impose an additional 25 percent tax for the continuous purchase of Russian oil in New Delhi, a key source of income for the Moscow War in Ukraine.
India is the second largest buyer of Russian oil, saving billions of crude oil with discount.
The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Trump’s announcement as more tariffs, qualifying the measure in “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.”
SC Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO), said he feared a worrying impact.
“This movement is a severe setback for Indian exports, with almost 55 % of our shipments to the US market directly affected,” he said in a statement.
“The 50PC reciprocal tariff effectively imposes a cost load, placing our exporters at a competitive disadvantage of 30-35 pieces compared to colleagues in countries with a lower reciprocal rate.”
Ralhan said that “many export orders have already been suspended” as buyers reassess supply decisions.
For “a large number” of small to medium -sized companies, the profits “margins are already thin,” he said.
“The absorption of this sudden cost escalation is simply not viable,” he added.
The fifth largest economy in the world, and most of the populated nation, is prepared for a trip full of potholes, since the United States is its largest commercial partner, with New Delhi shipping products worth $ 87.4 billion in 2024.
“If the additional rate of 25 percent that President Trump has announced in India imports follows in place, the appeal of India as an emerging manufacturing center will be very underminated,” said Shilan Shah of Capital Economics in a note.
Shah said Shah, Shah said.
But a 50 percent tariff is “large enough to have a material impact,” he added, with the resulting fall in exports, which means that the economy would grow closer to 6 percent this year and then, below the 7pc that currently predict.
